Religious Experience

1) Group/Individual Experience: Sikhism is a largely personal religion, focusing on internal conflict and the journey towards the concept of unity and God. Individuals meditate on the name of God and ponder the connections between divine and physical reality. There is much intrapersonal struggle in Sikhism stemming from the battle for control over ones every thought. Sikhs practice this control every day, and expand their minds with more and more abstract thoughts throughout their life. This individual and somewhat private aspect is essential to Sikhism in that one is always trying to be conscious of God and his name. It is this struggle, however, from which the Sikhs reap rewards such as focused mental clarity and deep insight. The group aspect of Sikhism is less than in other religions for this reason, but there are still definite places of worship, celebrations, and festivals that help the group aspect.

2) The Role of Gender: Sikhs are a faith adopted from many others around the world. They are not exclusivist, which allows them to take the best parts of every faith and combine them into an ultimate wisdom. A major emphasis of Sikh religion is the equality with which everybody and everything is created. This comes from the social scenario of the time. When Sikhism started the Hindu caste system was a major problem in India and a lot of Asia. It created massive social gaps and separation amongst classes. Sikhism worked to reverse this through acceptance and equality. Radical as it was at the time, they did treat women as equals to men. Women are held to the same standards, but are also allowed every right a man is allowed. She can read the Guru Granth Sahib to the congregation, worship in the same temple, and practice the same religion. This could come from the fact that Sikhs are more concerned with their bond with God then the differences amongst humans. This position on gender equality is today seen as morally just, and many religions have had to officially change their doctrines due to public opinion. This, to me, seems falsified and hollow. If they really believed it in the first place, and are devoted t their religion, then why alter themselves to help their public image? Sikhism has never had that problem as they recognized the injustice in the beginning, and worked to change it.